Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of a Luttinger Liquid

TL;DR

This paper predicts how scanning tunneling microscopy can reveal spin-charge separation and interaction effects in one-dimensional Luttinger liquids through characteristic current patterns and oscillations.

Contribution

It provides explicit theoretical predictions for STM measurements on interacting 1D electron systems using the Luttinger liquid model.

Findings

STM current varies with distance, revealing spin-charge separation.

Friedel-like oscillations and modulated behavior indicate interaction effects.

Current suppression near boundaries signals interaction strength.

Abstract

Explicit predictions for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) on interacting one-dimensional electron systems are made using the Luttinger liquid formalism. The STM current changes with distance from an impurity or boundary in a characteristic way, which reveals the spin-charge separation and the interaction strength in the system. The current exhibits Friedel-like oscillations, but also carries additional modulated behavior as a function of voltage and distance, which shows the spin-charge separation in real space. Moreover, very close to the boundary the current is strongly reduced, which is an indication of the interaction strength in the system.